Another woman.
At first he thought she was joking.
But the look on her face told him she was completely serious.
She tried to explain that she had been confused about her feelings for a long time.
She said she did not mean to hurt him.
But the truth was simple.
She had already made her decision.
To her, it might have felt complicated.
To Silar, it felt like his entire world had collapsed in a single conversation.
He did not shout.
He did not cause a scene.
He simply listened.
Then he stood up and left.
That night he walked through the city for hours before finally returning home.
For months afterward he felt like a ghost moving through his own life.
Work became mechanical.
Conversations felt meaningless.
He did not hate Alina.
But the betrayal had left a deep scar.
In the culture he grew up in, relationships were expected to follow certain paths.
This situation had broken everything he believed about loyalty and commitment.
For a while he wondered if he had simply not been good enough.
But eventually reality forced him to move forward.
His family still depended on him.
His younger brother needed help finishing school.
His parents needed support.
So Silar slowly rebuilt himself.
He focused on his work.
He stopped thinking about the past.
And over time the pain faded into something quieter.
The turning point in his life came unexpectedly.
One of the clients his consulting firm worked with was involved in local government projects.
Through that connection, Silar began interacting with people working in community programs and small political offices.
At first he only assisted with financial planning and project management.
But he started noticing something.
Many of the officials around him talked about helping people.
Very few of them actually understood how ordinary people lived.
Silar did.
He had grown up in a normal household.
He understood what it meant to struggle quietly while trying to maintain dignity.
The more he worked with these projects, the more he felt drawn toward that world.
Eventually he made a decision.
He left the consulting firm and joined a small local political organization that focused on community development.
The pay was lower.
The hours were even worse.
But for the later years, he felt like his work had meaning.
The early years were difficult.
Politics was not the clean environment many people imagined.
There were arguments, rivalries, and constant negotiations.
But Silar was patient.
He started at the lowest level.
Organizing community events.
Managing local programs.
Helping coordinate small charity efforts.
Slowly people began noticing him.
Not because he was loud or aggressive.
But because he was reliable, he had the characteristics of being a leader and someone who you can rely on.
When Silar promised something, he did his best to deliver it.
That reputation helped him climb step by step through the ranks.
Years passed...
Eventually he gained enough influence to manage regional projects.
Not powerful enough to control major decisions.
But strong enough to make real improvements in small communities.
And that was enough for him.
One of those projects was the school visit.
The event had been simple.
A program designed to encourage students and provide some funding for campus improvements.
Silar remembered standing on the stage that morning, speaking to hundreds of young students about responsibility and opportunity.
He had meant every word.
The future of the country would belong to people like them.
Bright young minds with potential.
That had been only hours before the world fell apart.
Before the screams.
Before the infected appeared.
Before everything turned into chaos.
The memory faded as Silar returned to the present.
The corridor around him felt colder now, as his vision blurred slightly as he walked.
Josh was still leading the group ahead.
Mira walked close behind him.
Silar felt something strange inside his chest.
Despite everything happening around them, this young man here was still trying to protect others.
A/N- That is what he thought tho based on what our MC has been doing since.
It reminded him of the hope he used to talk about during speeches.
The belief that people could still choose to do the right thing.
His steps slowed.
The infection inside his body continued spreading.
But he did not regret the life he had lived.
It had not been perfect.
But it had been a honest one for now and that was enough.